Change is the buzzword for fall, and not just in politics. Amid the bumper crop of upcoming albums, ears are trained on artists facing crucial career transitions. USA TODAY's music team looks at a dozen candidates whose new albums offer platforms for surges in critical and popular acceptance.

With its sinister growls, guitar blitzes and machine-gunned drums, Metallica's ninth studio album, out Friday, is drawing comparisons to a ferocious '80s streak that preceded the band's latter-day alt-rock shift. Embarking on Death Magnetic, Metallica felt pulled toward a buried lodestone: Master of Puppets, hailed as one of thrash-metal's peaks. On tour in 2006, the 20th anniversary of Puppets, the band began playing its early masterwork in full.